Surely you can't be serious. These asshats have made careers of standing around bloviating about anything and everything. There's nothing that a congresscritter enjoys more than the sound of their own voice.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Somacandra:Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Somacandra:Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Mike Chewbacca:Somacandra: Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Totally.

And just this morning I heard a story on NPR about how the GOP is blocking 68 high-level Cabinet appointments.

Somacandra:Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

GoldSpider:Somacandra: Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Precisely. Working as intended.

I doubt that when the GOP really wants to blackout a piece of legislature and filibuster it, they will spend thirteen hours talking.

They will use the filibuster as they have been, as long as there is no threat of a cloture vote.

Randstanding is an accurate term, because that's all this is: Publicity. Doing something different to make it on the news. It's obvious Rand Paul has presidential aspirations like his father. Expect the next few GOP primary candidates to do this too. Then expect it to disappear.

Nothing changed. McCain was actually right for once. It was a substance-less populist rant.

Consider the administration originally used 9/11 and Pearl Harbor as examples -- immediate threats. *After* the filibuster, it became a much less stringent qualifier of "combatant." Which is anyone subservient to an enemy force -- which is hellva lot looser standard that *immediacy.* You carry a rifle in service of al Qaeda anywhere in the world Mr. Obama and Mr. Paul agree on the powers to terminate you.

As much as they are about Rand Paul's fetuses-are-people-too bill. They're sweeping it under the rug, with a dismissive, "But aside from that little thing, he's just what the country needs, herp-derp."

Mike Chewbacca:Somacandra: Doesn't bother me in the slightest. As long as "the minority would have to remain on the Senate floor and speak in order to impede passage of a vote" I don't have a problem with it. The longest effort ever recorded of this nature was Strom Thurmond and Co.'s 24 hour marathon. The non-talking threats of filibuster leave bills and nominees in limbo for months at a time. That's the shiat that must not stand.

Totally.

And just this morning I heard a story on NPR about how the GOP is blocking 68 high-level Cabinet appointments.

I hope Paul tries to set a record every time he speaks if it will draw more attention to that crap.

Well, we all knew he was full of horse exhaust, but standing there with a bag of "PeePee" attached to his leg ,renders a picture of the libertarian mind and bizarre self sufficiency in a way that words can never quite adequately render.

See, that's the thing. You're shorthanded. That's why you're filibustering. Filibustering is tough, and more often than not it fails, but it still offers the chance at success. If you are that resolute in your convictions, do not hide behind parliamentary procedure and block progress in silence. We want you to get up there and earn it. Start talking, speak your peace, risk saying something stupid (in fact, stupid things are pretty much required to be said when you talk that long). You want a bill dead? Prove it. Prove it through blood, sweat and tears.

As a bonus, if the filibuster fails, if someone's bladder gives out, we get to actually have the vote right then and there, thereby actually making things go faster than they are now.

That is usually the endgame of a filibuster. You either have to tagteam and find a way to get off the floor long enough to pee, or you need to find a way to pee in the chamber, or else it's just a matter of time before you have a potty emergency. Your bladder does not give a flying fark about drones or judicial nominees or whatever. Your bladder wants to pee, and it demands to see the toilet concerning such urgent matters.

Really, people need to give the toilet more respect in regards to filibusters. I mean, we give them so much shiat.

So now they're excited because he sparked a debate? What the fark are they doing when they're debating these faking bills then? I thought that was the point. Now apparently Paul is getting props because he remembered what our legislators are supposed to do.

Mikey1969:So now they're excited because he sparked a debate? What the fark are they doing when they're debating these faking bills then? I thought that was the point. Now apparently Paul is getting props because he remembered what our legislators are supposed to do.

Actually it is just the opposite. He evidently hasn't the slightest idea what his job is. He didn't filibuster legislation. He didn't propose any legislation. If he wants limits set on how drones can be used he happens to be a member of the branch of government that does just that. Instead of doing his job he attention whored for 13 hours to filibuster, not legislation that grants any powers to the president, but a nominee.

What he did is the exact opposite of doing his job. He wasted congress's time (and thus taxpayer dollars) to start his campaign for president, instead of doing the actual work of a legislator.